Indie Memphis Monday

I saw even more movies yesterday at Indie Memphis. I watched a series of shorts that were hilarious, in particular Pickle Power and Below Average. Pickle Power is about an underachiever in this family of overachievers who decided to enter a pickle-eating contest. It is very funny and it has a Karate Kid reference. As an 80s child, I loved that. It was directed by Benjamin Epps. Below Average is about a geeky kid in the 80s. It was directed by Chris and Natalie Boyatt. They had cool 80s music like Hall and Oates and Michael Bolton. They also used old footage of Championship Wrestling. There's nothing like Memphis wrestling! And, they had a came from my fellow Black Snake Moan extra, Jorge Contreras. They plan to go to LA and convince some peopleto give them funding for a feature-length version. I hope it happens. I have already submitted my resume and headshot to them through the e-mail. I stay hustling, baby!

Bubble was another interesting film. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Coleman Hough, the writer of Full Frontal. It was about people who made dolls in a factory in a small midwestern town. The unique thing about this film is that it did not use trained actors, but people from the town. Also, the script was loosely structured. It was a good movie, but I'm not too keen on them not using real actors. Reality TV is taking enough jobs from actors. But, it was a good movie. I am supposed to work with Rod and finish April's short, but if that's called off, I'll try to catch some more films.

Shameless Plug Time!

Arnita William's films:

The Other Side of the Pillow"The Other Side of the Pillow" has been accepted into competition at this year's Indie Memphis Film Festival. Screening times: Tuesday 10/25 at 6:30 p.m. This is from Memphis filmmaker Sarah Fleming and her Piranha Empire Productions. It's produced by Sandi Russom and written by Pat Dugan and Spencer Pharr. Do not miss.

"Slow Down ... You're Dating Too Fast!""Slow Down ... You're Dating Too Fast!" by writer-producer- director-dp-editor-cook M. David Lee III is premiering at the IndieMemphis festival Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m.The digital film uses a modified version of the Dogme95 Principles and a portion of the screenplay is based on improv with actors who developed their own characters.The story is based on an article David readin 2001 about the Speed Dating phenomenon. It's his second feature shot in the Mid-South and the third one he's had in the IndieMemphis festival.There are 32 speaking roles, all Memphis and Mississippi actors and crew. It was filmed in six days over a one-month period entirely in Memphis, Midtown, Cordova and Hernando Miss.More info is at David's web site.

Markus Seaberry's Feature Length Debut:

Dollars & Signs In the great American city of Memphis, TN, three "businessmen" are struggling to succeed. Carlton has an image to maintain and a family to feed. Mike and Dave have regular folks paying them to stand up against corporate greed. Along the way the three will meet, heads will bump and lives will change. 2005. Director: Brandon Hutchinson. HT Narrative Feature, 78:00.This film will be shown on Thursday, October 27, at 6:30 pm at the Muvico Peabody Place. The admission is $6.00. Please support. My mama gon' be there, and you should, too!

Dollars and Signs Premiere Countdown: 2 Days and Counting